THN Archive: Before Relocating, Hartford Whalers Were Consistently in Cup Playoff Mix

Before they relocated to North Carolina in 1997, the Hartford Whalers did not enjoy much in the way of Stanley Cup playoff success. However, in this cover story from THN’s March 27, 1987 edition – Vol. 40, Issue 26 – writer Randy Smith put the Whalers under the microscope to see what made them tick.

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At the time the story was published, the Whalers were coming off their first NHL playoff series win, which took place against the Quebec Nordiques in 1986. And they’d push to their best regular-season peak in 1986-87, winning the Adams Division with a 43-30-7 record. And in Smith’s feature, just beating the other Adams teams in the regular season was a feat in and of itself.

“We’ve concentrated within the division all year,” GM Emile Francis told Smith. “To be honest, I didn’t know who would finish first and who would finish last in our division at the start of the season. Any team that comes out of the division has a good shot at winning the Cup. That’s how much I think of the Adams Division.”

Prior to Francis’ arrival in Hartford in May 1983, the Whalers were perennial sad sacks, only making the playoffs once in their first six seasons. In that span, they’d gone through four coaches, five captains and two GMs. And nothing was working.

“We kept seeing lights at the end of the tunnel, but they kept turning out to be freight trains,” Howard Baldwin, the franchise’s founder, said. “Like that minor-league superstar, Bob Sullivan. He was going to save the day for us. We were grasping for straws.”

That said, things began to turn for the better because the Whalers began drafting top-tier talent, including Ron Francis, Ray Ferraro, Kevin Dineen and Ulf Samuelsson. Soon to follow, one way or another, were Dave Babych, John Anderson, Doug Jarvis and Dean Evason. But perhaps their biggest addition was star goalie Mike Liut, who came over from St. Louis in a 1985 trade for netminder Greg Millen and forward Mark Johnson. Once Liut settled in, Hartford made the playoffs for the five full seasons he was there (and seven playoff appearances in a row leading up to the 1992-93 campaign. But Liut and his teammates had bigger aspirations than just making the post-season.

“I don’t want to sound snooty about this, but making the playoffs is no big deal,” Liut said. “You don’t prove anything in the first 60 games. The time to prove something is now. Teams that win Stanley Cups do not have bad Marches. If we think we can just waltz into the playoffs, we’ll get our butts kicked.

“I don’t know if we’re one of the top five clubs or not,” Liut added. “We’ve got a lot to prove. I mean, what have we done? Somebody’s going to say that the Whalers will win it…And why not? We certainly have every intention of beating everybody we play. I just don’t want to say we’re top five. It’s inviting disaster.”

Ultimately, the Whalers of the 80s were an above-average group that couldn’t take the next competitive step to make themselves Cup front-runners. That may have been one of the reasons why the team relocated, but you can’t say Hartford’s players weren’t aware of the mountainous task it was moving from an expansion team to a truly elite group.

“Everything you’ve worked all year for can get away from you if you don’t continue to work hard,” Ferraro said. “We can’t just throw our sticks out on the ice and expect to win. We’re not that good.”

Vol. 40, Issue 26, March 27, 1987

By Randy Smith

Young babes must learn to crawl before they walk and walk before they run.

The first two steps have been virtual snaps for the Hartford Whalers, who have turned things around in a big way in a matter of months — 12, to be exact.

Now that they’ve finally got the puck in their comer, however, the question is, how far can they run with it?

“Why not go for all the trophies out there?” asked general manager Emile Francis, who for 25 years has unsuccessfully pursued the Stanley Cup.

“We’ve concentrated within the division all year. To be honest, I didn’t know who would finish first and who would finish last in our division at the start of the season. Any team that comes out of the division has a good shot at winning the Cup. That’s how much I think of the Adams Division.”

A couple of summers ago, the Whalers thought so much of the division that they did everything in their power to get out of it. They proposed divisional realignment, mostly out of frustration, because the road to the playoffs appeared permanently blocked.

What the Whalers really wanted was a division of their own — because aside from missing the playoffs each season, everything was sailing along perfectly in Hartford.

Those were the days, my friend.

“We kept seeing lights at the end of the tunnel, but they kept turning out to be freight trains,” said Howard Baldwin, the club’s founder. “Like that minor-league superstar, Bob Sullivan. He was going to save the day for us. We were grasping for straws.”

Straws came and straws went. By the time that Francis arrived in Hartford in May, 1983, the Whalers had gone through two general managers, four coaches and five captains, all in just four NHL seasons.

“I said at the time we signed Emile that what we were lacking were discipline and attitude,” Baldwin said. “He arrived with both.”

Francis took over a team that had missed the playoffs for three straight years, but didn’t find the cupboard bare — not exactly.

Ronnie Francis was here, and the fruits of the 1982 draft — Paul Lawless (14th pick overall), Kevin Dineen (56th), Ulf Samuelsson (67th) and Ray Ferraro (88th) — were one year away from full maturity.

“I’m still a Larry Pleau fan,” said Baldwin, who hired and fired the former GM and coach. Pleau, who played for the Whalers in their World Hockey Association days, is GM-coach at Binghamton today.

“He’s played a big part in this,” Baldwin said. “And Billy Dineen, too. Just look at that (‘82) draft.”

Francis’ Whalers missed the playoffs the first two seasons, but raised their point total from 45 to 66 to 69. They had won the first battle. They had become respectable.

Along with discipline and attitude, Francis brought stability to the Whalers, backing coach Jack Evans to the hilt under threatening skies.

Then Francis had an Executive-of-the-Year season, bringing in Dave Babych, Stew Gavin, Doug Jarvis, John Anderson and Dean Evason, among others.

The pieces were in place. Last year, the Whalers figure, was the appetizer. This year, they’re hoping, will be the main course. And so far, it looks as if it may.

“We haven’t won anything yet, and still, I’ve enjoyed this season more than any other, even the first one,” said Baldwin, referring to the Whalers’ WHA title season of 1972-73.

With a 17-10-3 record against divisional rivals, the Whalers have looked the part of champions. Many believe their performance is a carryover from last spring’s dramatic playoff run that ended in a seventh-game overtime session in the quarter-final round at Montreal.

That stirring drive earned the Whalers a parade in Hartford. This time around, local folk will be looking for more. Things have changed so fast that some people are still shaking their heads.

When you sit down and try to figure this whole thing out, start with the goaltender,” Joel Quenneville said. “There are a lot of reasons behind our success, but it all started with him.”

Mike Liut is Francis’ “main man,” and everyone understands why. Not only can he stop the puck, he provides an ultra-serious (some would call it professional) presence in the dressing room. Many players, in fact, would rather be in Evans’ doghouse than in Liut’s. Some men are born to follow. Liut, it can be said fairly, isn’t one of them.

“I don’t want to sound snooty about this, but making the playoffs is no big deal,” Liut said. “You don’t prove anything in the first 60 games. The time to prove something is now. Teams that win Stanley Cups do not have bad Marchs. If we think we can just waltz into the playoffs, we’ll get our butts kicked.

“I don’t know if we’re one of the top five clubs or not,” Liut said. “We’ve got a lot to prove. I mean, what have we done? Somebody’s going to say that the Whalers will win it…And why not? We certainly have every intention of beating everybody we play. I just don’t want to say we’re top five. It’s inviting disaster.”

Only once in five Adams Division seasons has the regular-season champion advanced to the semi-finals. Gerry Cheevers’ Bruins did it in 1983.

“I pay no attention to those kinds of things,” Francis said. “That’s for the history books.”

Should a team risk burnout before the playoffs?

“So much is made of that in other cities,” Francis said. “Quebec used it as an excuse after we beat them last year, that they had done so much to get to first place. If that’s your excuse, then you didn’t deserve first place. You should be good enough to go on.”

In retrospect, Francis said that his New York Rangers of the early ‘70s were good enough to win the Cup “three times,” but didn’t because of three nemeses — ”injuries, bad bounces and Bernie Parent.”

Some things never change.

“Year after year, the single most determining factor behind who wins the Cup is injuries,” Francis said. “And they’re something that nobody can control. Last year, the two teams that made it (Montreal and Calgary) had the most depth.”

Francis made a couple of moves at the trading deadline to bolster the Whalers’ depth.

He persuaded winger Gord Sherven, whom he acquired from Edmonton in the waiver draft, to sign a one-year termination contract with the Whalers.

Sherven left the Calgary-based Canadian national team program to join friend and former teammate Dave Tippett in Hartford. By signing the termination contract, Sherven remained eligible for the 1988 Olympics.

In his first two games for the Whalers, Sherven showed an abundance of speed, a quality that has raised the Whalers to the brink of the Adams Division regular-season title.

In addition, Francis acquired veteran right winger Pat Hughes from the St. Louis Blues on waivers.

“To win it all, you need 26, 27 or 28 players,” Francis said.

But these are uncharted waters for an emerging young team. In the big pond, will the Whale sink or swim?

“When we’re skating, we can play with anybody in this league,” Evans said. “When we don’t skate, it’s a different story.”

There are a million ways to examine the Whalers, who were 36-26-7 with 11 games to play. Here are two:

• They have done very little wrong this season. They were 11-2-2 in divisional games in Hartford and showed victories in some tough buildings — Philadelphia, Boston, Montreal, Long Island. They jumped to an 18-9-5 start, which lifted their regular-season record dating back to last year to 30-12-7, a pretty impressive 49-game run.

In addition, they’d won many of the close ones, going 14-5 in one-goal decisions. Protecting a lead, meanwhile, had been no problem. The Whalers were 20-1-2 when leading after one period and 30-1-2 when leading after two.

• On the other hand, they were just 18-17-2 after their excellent start. They buzzed to a 5-0-1 homestand in early March only to drop back-to-back decisions to Quebec and Calgary thereafter. They remain a handicapper’s nightmare.

“Everything you’ve worked all year for can get away from you if you don’t continue to work hard,” Ray Ferraro said. “We can’t just throw our sticks out on the ice and expect to win. We’re not that good.”

The good news for the Whalers is, neither is anybody else.

“How we finish the season will pretty much determine how we’ll do in the playoffs,” Liut said. “The opportunity is there.”

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